Holy Family is the lead school in a collaboration activity involving eight other schools from its local area as well as expanding its work with schools from Spain and Latvia.
The project is entitled P.L.A.Y. standing for ‘Participation, Learning and Activity for the Young’.
The project has three key strands
Strand 1 – Addressing the theme of playground games extending into sporting activity. It concentrates on pupil self esteem towards activity and will target all children, especially those with low self esteem. Following comparative studies, pupils will be required to create and innovate games of their own and share experiences.
Strand 2 – Highlights the Olympic and Paralympic values. We recognise that London 2012 provides us with a unique opportunity to profile these values. It is the intention that they are embedded into the work of this project.
Strand 3 – Developing the ICT capabilities of our children. This collaboration will seek to enhance communication skills. These will extend beyond those generally experienced in primary schools and will include video conferencing, animation, and visual arts as well as email, messaging and podcasting. Children will develop collaborative styles of work, being responsible for planning and interaction between one another. They will work in an innovative manner that is original and of benefit to all children involved.
A Collaborations! project working with a composer/sonic artist, a visual artist and a disabled athlete in conjunction with a Mosaic, a group for Black, Asian and Mixed-Parentage people who are socially excluded and who face discrimination based on race and ethnicity, and Uganda-based Asanti Afrika performers
Just Different is part of the Collaborations! project devised and run by a creative team made up of an established disabled artist Lynn Weddle, emergent disabled artist Jack Bull and disabled athlete Adam Simmons.
The project is collaborating with Allsorts a youth group in based in Brighton. Allsorts is a project set up to support and empower young people under 26 who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or unsure (LGBTU) of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Just Different is working in partnership with the Charlotte Miller Art Project - cmap, an international arts outreach programme working with young vulnerable people in Guayaquil, Ecuador to share and inform the artwork.
The Beaconsfield School has recently started a partnership with the Vijay Foundation Trust and Aarti Home. I had the opportunity to visit Aarti Home for a month on behalf of the school from December 2010 – January 2011.